I'm really liking that the medic class combines healer and farmer/ranger/scavenger classes together and does so in a logical way. Definitely going to have one on my team. I also appreciate that you have a choice of fantasy-style/school girl or modern scientist/doctor look.

Pre-ordered. Also, this will give me an excuse to get around to Etrian Odyssey III some time soon.

If you manage to finish it on time, think you could give me a total time estimate? I'm on the first floor of the second stratum, and it felt like it took 20 hours just to get through the first Stratum (granted 5+ hours were just sailing), and it doesn't seem like it'll get any quicker.

According to Atlus they're putting up a free demo on the 3DS eShop Feb 7th and that the demo will function as a save point for the full game if you choose to buy it.

I don't really like dungeon crawlers and am making an exception for Soul Hackers, but EO might be interesting. Gonna wait for the review regardless, but good to know there's a demo that can help confirm feelings and not waste any time invested. If only Tales of Hearts R demo had that feature. That guy who poured close to 80 hours into the demo would be happier I imagine.

I admittedly don't know about IV because I haven't played it, but I-III were light when it comes to the story, not much more than the average game in the genre. I think you might be getting fooled by the artstyle or its publisher/developer; the story is really just there to give a reason for the dungeon and its enemies inside to exist. It's all about the gameplay.

Of recently-released first-person dungeon crawlers, Unchained Blades had the most story to it. That particular game has so much story to it that I actually wanted it to be quiet and let me just go through my dungeons.

But, absolutely, try the demo. You might find you enjoy the genre more than you'd expect.